Glencore plans initial public offering

BAAR, SWITZERLAND — Glencore International AG, the world’s largest commodities trader, plans to raise as much as $11 billion from an initial public offering in London and Hong Kong, according to news reports.

Sources have said the company will announce a price range for the IPO on May 4. The IPO may raise $9 billion to $11 billion, Bloomberg reported on April 12.

A real estate investment trust controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing received orders for all shares offered in a $1.7 billion IPO on the first day of the sale, Bloomberg reported.

Glencore may file a so-called intention to float document in London on April 14, said three people with knowledge of the sale, who declined to be identified because the plan is private.

An IPO by Glencore, which changed its name from Marc Rich & Co. after management bought out former fugitive U.S. financier Marc Rich in 1994, would end more than three decades of being a closely held partnership.